Gower Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

Gower Man Indicted on Child Pornography Charges

KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced today that a Gower, Missouri man has been indicted by a federal grand jury for possessing child pornography and attempting to receive child pornography over the Internet.

William D. Everett, 43, of Gower, was charged in a three-count indictment returned under seal by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri. That indictment was unsealed and made public upon Everett’s arrest and initial court appearance on Friday, May 23, 2014.

Everett is charged with two counts of attempting to receive child pornography over the Internet and one count of possessing child pornography.

The federal indictment contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Everett to forfeit to the government two desktop computers and two computer hard drives that were allegedly used to commit the offenses.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine A. Connelly. It was investigated by the FBI.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about Internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “Resources.”

This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available online at http://www.justice.gov/usao/mow/index.html.